Probable Challenges Facing Servitization Adoption in Construction: Lessons from the Manufacturing Sector

The construction industry has acquired a reputation for product delivery without consideration for associated services. This dissatisfaction of clients due to the non-functionality of such products has led to a clamour for the adoption of servitization. Servitization entails a transition from selling products to offering products that are blended with services to add value to the end-user. This study explores probable challenges associated with the adoption of servitization within the construction industry based on lessons learnt from the manufacturing sector. A systematic review of the servitization literature was conducted. The literature selection was predicated on a set of keywords from various databases. These articles were analyzed using qualitative content analysis based on pre-selected themes. Results indicate that poor communication flow and nature of contractual arrangements which foster further fragmentation as well as lack of clear service-orientated strategies posed as probable barriers to the adoption of servitization in the construction industry.